Antarctica ’s Lake Enigma has become somewhat less enigmatic . It was once assumed the faraway lake was immobilize solid from top to bottom , but scientist have now discovered a monumental hidden organic structure of unfrozen water beneath its chunky ice surface . Here , amid the frosty waters , they get hold a alone ecosystem pullulate with life .
Lake Enigma is a lake found in the Northern Victoria Land of easternAntarctica . The presence of liquified water was recently discovered by a squad from the Italian National Research Council of Italy using ground - penetrating microwave radar , negate early assumptions that it was completely fixed .
Their scans suggest the water is at least 12 metre ( 39 feet ) deep , although they save that it “ may be even deeper . ”
The lake is subjected to mean air temperatures of – 14 ° degree centigrade ( 6.8 ° fluorine ) , with lows make – 40.7 ° C ( -41.26 ° F ) . Thanks to these virulent temperatures , the unfrozen piss remains cover by up to 11 meters ( 36 understructure ) of crank all year around .
The permanent ice cover avail to isolate the lake from the external world and , along with the extreme cold , foster a unequalled ecosystem of microorganisms – some of which might not be find anywhere else on Earth . The microbial ecosystem in Lake Enigma even seems to be unlike other Antarctic lakes , such as those living in the well - studiedMcMurdo Dry Valleys , likely due to its unequaled chemical and thermal properties .
Genetic analytic thinking of samples taken from the lake revealed a variety of different microorganism dwelling in the water , includingBacteroidota , Actinobacteriota , andPseudomonadota .
Most significantly , it showed that the urine was enriched by an abundance of ultrasmall bacterium of the superphylumPatescibacteria . These tiny bacteria have extremely little cell , contain highly reduced genomes , and carry out very minimum cellular activities . They are simple but effective .
“ The ice - seal planktonic and benthal microbiota of Lake Enigma likely play persistent legacy biota that spring up from the lake ’s ancient microbial ecosystem before the freeze - up , ” the work authors write .
“ Overall , Lake Enigma microbiota occupy different trophic levels within a simple aquatic food web , range from elementary output to ectosymbiosis and predation . The ultrasmallPatescibacteriain particular may flirt strange roles in the lake ’s ecosystem that do not play out in other ice - cover Antarctic lakes , ” they bestow .
It ’s freakish that the body of water even exists . Antarctica is thelargest desert on Earthbecause it receive so little rain or snowfall . Due to this lack of precipitation , along with intense vaporisation from the sun and super - puffy winds , the lake should suffer up to 200,000 cubic meters ( 7,062,933 three-dimensional feet ) of weewee each year . Despite this , its waters have not eat up .
This lead the researcher to claim the lake must have a hidden recharge system . The beginning of the replenishing water remains indecipherable , but I guess they call it Lake Engima for in effect reason …
The new study is put out in the journalCommunications Earth & Environment .
